Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-01-11

december Atlantic.
A mere neck OF earth separates the
Russian capital frem the great in
land sea Of Ladoga, and through
more than forty intervening verst Of
forest land, green and wavy with the
trembling aspen, the birch, the alder
and the silver pine. the Neva moves
majestically down its deep channel,
by villages and elearings. past scat
tered communes and struggling
huts, between sounding woodyards
aud busy factories. till at last, Gid.
ing along the famed granite qusys OF
the Imperial city, il pours by five
broad mouths and narrow outlets in
Vulnerable into the Gulf of Finland.
No Russian river has the beauty,
the purity. the picturesqneness.
which are the attributes of this north
ern wateT-course; yet, 10 fully appre-
ciate the nobleness of its aspect ia
the warm season, one must be famil.
lar with its wintry appearance, and
above all, witness its vernal enamel.
patton from the letters of frost by
ukase of the father of warmth,
the Slave Apollo, Dazh-Bog himself
For nearly sixmonths ringing high.
way for man and beast, the Neva
grows unsafe for travel late in the
month Of April, and has usually re-
sumed its freedom by the beginning
of May; yet the opening of the at
tack on the crystalline mass precedes
the momen. OF its melting by weeks.
A month sometimes elapses before
the solar rays have begun to sensibly
thin the ice crust. and for a month
of seeming defiance Of the forces OF
renaissance droskles pursue their
chosen paths over the CONCEALED river,
pedestrians continue to traverse II in
chair slides or on foot, the heavy
wagons OF merchant aud trader 90
rnmbling over in the same endless
procession. and the Samoyeds, those
gypsies of the north, cling with their
reindeers to the camping ground OF
their winter exileon the frozen stream
which is soon to bear them back 10
their homes in the Arctic circle.
The metamorphosis then follows
with a swiftness truly Russian. The
last screws aud clasps Of molecular
cohesion are drawn ia single night
the thickest Ice plate then opens 20 its
solar enemy @ thousand lines Il
march. In the morning, with firm,
quick steps. you msY safely traverse
the Neva, still ice-coyered; at noon
your return Is barred by q clear,
swelling stream, whose whilom bonds
have turned TO dancing liquid facets.
from which the sun laughs back It's
light and its triumph True, the ice
Is not wholly gone, but Il meets the
eye henceforth purely as spectacle
the offering, not Of river, but OF
lake. This new ice Is the product
of more northern waters. the snowy
blocks and bergs of LadogA, glitter.
ing debris Of an unequal combat that
every spring renews. For some days
after the breakup along the Neva, In
the interval. between the beginning of
open ani that Of safe navigation, the
river chAnnel is thronged with broken
strata. eiett blocks, truncated pillars.
shivered columns; with spires and
spears aud shafts, nay. with all shape
fal aud shapsless masses. that half
undergo and half escape degelation
tn the annual return of heat to the
far north. Slowly the rank aud Gle
Of this shining host glide past, driv-
ing back 10 shelter neet Of venture.
some ferFyhOats, battering the bridge
piers with dangerous force aud fire.
auency. scrsping the quays with =
soaorous attritan, and emitting
throughout the duration Of their pas
sage strange, rusIling, cFunching
sound, By day striking. by night
solema and weird, this scene passes
Ia las turn. and for six months the
Neva presents the aspect which |
have described in the opening para